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plished by destructive fires which have followed long dry spells 

 and by man who has drawn upon the native forest for his fire- 

 wood. All of these have worked tooth and nail until it is a won- 

 der that we have left a forest of any value. 



GRAZING MOST DETRIMENTAL TO NATIVE FOREST. 



The continued grazing of cattle today in the native forest for 

 the pecuniary benefit of a few to the detriment of the future wel- 

 fare of the chief industry of the islands and of the community 

 is very short-sighted. If this one element of damage were re- 

 moved once and forever, a great deal will have been accomplish- 

 ed for forest protection in Hawaii. Much good work along this 

 line has of course been done, but as a rule it has not been started 

 until the shoe has begun to pinch, until the scarcity of water for 

 fluming or other purposes has made it imperative that the remain- 

 ing local forest be protected. With the cattle excluded from the 

 forest once and for all by proper stock-proof fences, appropriate 

 steps could then be taken toward getting the forest back into 

 a satisfactory normal condition for water conservation by a care- 

 ful study and solution of the problems which confront us. 



PROTECTION OF CITY WATERSHEDS. 



Right here I wish to digress to the subject of the protection 

 of city watersheds by excluding not only cattle and other stock 

 but also human beings. This is a practice, the necessity of which 

 is becoming more apparent on the mainland, but when in 1916 a 

 rule which forbid trespassing on the Honolulu watershed in Nuu- 

 anu Valley was passed by the Board of Agriculture and Forestry 

 various protests were then and have continued to be voiced by 

 those who place their own personal pleasure above the health of 

 the community and sanitation of the city. 



The city of Portland, Oregon, enjoys a continued abundance 

 of the purest mountain water in the world, and this is assured 

 only by the absolute forbidding of all trespassing on the Bull Run 

 watershed which was set aside by act of congress in 1892. This 

 comprises an area of 18 miles by 22 miles, in extent, containing 

 142,080 acres, or little smaller than the com.bined areas of Lanai 

 and Niihau. 



It will probably be advisable in the near future to place other 

 watersheds in the Territory under a similar rule and for the 

 same purpose. 



FOREST DETERIORATION DUE TO OTHER CAUSES. 



Another phase of the deterioration of the native forest has 

 recently been discussed and this involves changes in soil con- 

 ditions. It has been asserted that our present flora is a new- 

 soil flora which is not able to persist on old soils ; that our native 

 forests are doomed and are dying out so rapidly that within 50 

 years or more they will have no value whatsoever as protective 



